r1 


\ 


Seven  Years 


Seine  and  Loire 


Valleys 


illustrated 


American  McAll  Association 

1710  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia 


:a 


Seven  Y ears 

in  the 

Seine  and  Loire  Valleys 

(1902  -1909) 


Glimpses  of  the  McAll  Chapel  Boats 

“LE  BON  MESSAGER” 
and 

“  LA  BONNE  NOUVELLE” 


By 

GEORGE  T.  BERRY 

With  Illustrations  from  Original  Photographs 


( Printed  from  a  specially  donated  publication 


American  McAll  Association 

1710  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia 


Jesus  Preaching  by  the  Lake  Side 


Seven  Years 


in  the 

Seine  and  Loire  Valleys 


N  April,  1902,  Le  Bon  Messager  completed  the  first  ten 
years  of  her  unique  cruises  in  the  basin  of  the  Seine 
and  its  larger  tributaries,  the  Aisne,  the  Oise,  the 
Marne  and  the  Yonne. 

That  same  month  at  St.  Mammes,  near  Fontaine¬ 
bleau,  La  Bonne  Nouvelle  was  put  into  commission, 
headed  for  the  busy  towns  and  villages  along  the  canals 
of  the  watershed  to  the  south  and  the  valley  of  the  Loire 
beyond,  up  which  she  has  at  this  time  cruised  as  far  as  Roanne,*  about 
thirty  miles  from  Lyons. 

Statistics  give  but  vague  impressions  of  spiritual  results.  Particularly 
is  this  true  of  such  a  work  as  that  of  the  McAll  Mission  boats,  whose 
ministry  covers  so  wide  a  territory,  persons  being  found  not  infrequently 
in  the  audiences  on  board  who  have  come  from  five,  ten  or  even  fifteen 
miles  away.  One  needs  to  live  for  a  week  at  a  time  on  one  of  the  boats, 
to  study  the  eager  faces  of  the  listeners,  to  talk  with  those  who  come,  out 
of  service  hours,  for  serious  conversations  with  the  “captain”-evangelist, 
to  note  how  rapidly  the  supply  of  Bibles  and  Testaments  is  exhausted,  to 
see  the  eyes  of  the  children  sparkle  as  the  romance  of  the  Gospel  story  is 
told  to  them  for  the  first  time,  to  interview  the  grateful  pastors,  whose 
churches  have  been  “revived”  by  a  mission  in  their  towns,  to  accompany 
the  boat’s  colporteur  on  his  daily  round  of  visits  in  the  outlying  villages. 
In  many  an  out-of-the-way  place,  far  from  any  church  or  other  evangelical 
influence,  may  be  found  to-day  a  well-thumbed  Bible,  purchased  on  one 
of  the  boats  years  ago. 

Yet  it  must  add  something  to  one’s  impressions  to  read  the  story  so 
far  as  the  figures  are  able  to  tell  it.  These  two  quaint  little  craft  have 
a  seating  capacity  of  but  a  hundred  and  sixty  each,  and  yet  in  their 
cruises  along  the  silent  highways  they  have  held  over  two  hundred  and 
fifty  “missions”!  in  places  located  so  as  to  reach  perhaps  ten  times  that 
number  of  towns  and  villages,  and  they  have  had  on  board  an  audience 
aggregating  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  million  persons.  Like  the  canal- 
boats,  among  which  they  are  registered,  they  have  carried  a  heavy  tonnage 

*See  map  on  last  page  of  cover. 

fA  “mission”  lasts  usually  from  two  to  six  weeks,  according  to  the  interest  shown, 
but  is  sometimes  extended  into  months,  as  in  the  case  of  Nemours,  where  the  Bonne  Nouvelle 
spent  a  long  winter,  a  permanent  work  having  grown  out  of  the  visit. 


4 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


Just  Before  Sunday  School  on  Board 


as  the  years  have  passed  with  this  distinction,  that  in  place  of  the  common 
wheat  or  corn  their  cargo  has  been  that  “living  seed”  which  nourishes  not 
only  the  body  but  the  soul  as  well.  As  many  as  6000  gospels  and  tracts 
have  been  distributed  on  one  of  the  boats  in  a  single  month,  and  the  total 
sale  of  Bibles,  Testaments,  single  gospels,  hymn  books,  etc.,  has  reached 
into  hundreds  of  thousands.*  As  Jesus  taught  the  multitudes  from  the 
little  boat  on  the  lake  in  Galilee,  so  beside  the  French  rivers  to-day  the 
multitudes  still  hear  His  voice  speaking  those  same  marvelous  parables 
whose  verisimilitude  is  felt  in  France  as  perhaps  nowhere  else  outside  the 
Holy  Land.  It  is  the  romance  of  the  first  century  repeated  in  the  twen¬ 
tieth  in  those  ageless  words  which  “shall  never  pass  away.” 

Nor  does  the  story  grow  old  when  it  becomes  a  twice-told  or  even  a 
thrice-told  tale.  For  since  the  Bonne  Nouvelle — from  whose  launching 
this  account  begins — joined  her  ministry  to  that  of  the  Bon  Messager  the 
latter  has  been  chiefly  occupied  in  revisiting  the  places  where  her  former 
missions  were  held. 

In  April,  1902,  Le  Bon  Messager  was  at  Chateau-Thierry,  on  the 
Marne, f  and  still  in  command  of  “Captain”  Huet,  who,  aided  by  his  effi¬ 
cient  wife,  had,  since  1894,  served  the  Mission  in  this  capacity.  It  was 
the  boat’s  fourth  “season”  on  the  Marne,  whither  a  well-known  and  wel- 

*In  her  first  eleven  years  the  Bon  Messager  was  the  means  of  putting  over  a  quarter 
of  a  million  tracts  in  circulation  among  the  country  folk  in  hamlet  and  village  who  would 
for  the  most  part  never  have  heard  the  Gospel  message  nor  seen  a  Gospel  tract  had  not 
the  boat  visited  them. 

fSee  map  of  the  Marne  on  page  14. 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


5 


corned  visitor  she  had  returned  the  year  before  after  an  eight  years’ 
absence,  and  along  whose  sinuous  course,  dotted  with  populous  villages, 
the  eager  multitudes  detained  her  yet  two  years  more.* 

Of  the  “good  messenger’s”  first  passage  up  and  down  the  Marne  a 
frequent  visitor  on  board  wrote  that  her  coming  “had  started  an  efferves¬ 
cence  of  religious  discussion  throughout  the  entire  valley.”  Let  some 
incidents  from  Captain  Huet’s  diary  tell  the  story  of  the  people’s  joy  at 
her  return — the  appealing  story :  for,  O,  the  pity  of  it,  as  expressed  by 
the  people  of  a  town  on  the  Yonne  as  the  boat  was  about  to  leave  them: 
“How  dismal  Laroche  will  be  in  the  evening  without  the  lights  of  the 
boat.  Your  Mission  is  badly  organized.  You  come  and  tell  us  a  thousand 
interesting  things  and,  just  as  we  begin  to  understand  them,  you  go 
away.”  It  is  not  that  the  Mission  is  badly  organized  that  it  does — has  to 
do — intermittent  work.  It  is  the  lack  of  a  fleet  of  boats,  each  to  be 
assigned  permanently  to  its  own  territory  until  all  the  riverlands  of  France 
are  evangelized. 

But  to  return  to  Captain  Huet’s  diary.  Writing  from  Azy  on  the 
26th  May  (1902),  he  says:  “With  the  return  of  fine  weather  we  had  yes¬ 
terday  one  of  the  most  splendid  meetings  that  we  have  ever  held  on  board. 
At  two  o’clock  the  boat  was  overfilled  with  children  and  their  parents 
and  in  the  evening  some  three  hundred  persons  were  crammed  in,  while 
there  must  have  been  quite  two  hundred  outside.  M.  Nicolet  had  never 
been  at  any  of  our  meetings  before,  and  at  first  he  was  not  a  little  aston¬ 
ished  at  the  somewhat  free  and  easy  ways  of  our  good  friends.  But  he 
soon  saw  how  the  people  came  truly  to  listen  and  to  be  taught,  and 
thanks  to  his  excellent  addresses  they  were  not  sent  away  empty.  The 

*For  the  chronology  of  the  cruises  of  each  boat,  see  page  31. 


The  “Gallant  Little  Bon  Messager”  en  route 


6 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


population  in  these  parts  never  goes  near  the  churches,  and  at  Azy  there 
are  no  services  held  except  burials  and  marriages,  so  the  people  never 
hear  anything  to  remind  them  of  God  or  of  a  future  life.  But  it  is  certain 
that  they  have  great  sympathy  for  us  and  they  listen  to  us  with  wonder¬ 
ful  attention.” 

Of  the  missions  at  Saulchery,  Charly,  Crouttes,  Nanteuil-sur-Marne, 
etc.,  the  account  continues  in  the  same  strain :  “What  shall  I  say  of  Saul¬ 
chery?  The  most  wonderful  thing  is  that  now  (November)  our  mission 
there  has  not  ceased,  though  we  are  five  miles  away.  Yesterday  again 
at  Nanteuil  five  or  six  young  men  from  Saulchery  came  to  the  meeting, 
as  they  have  been  doing  for  weeks  despite  the  distance  and  the  bad 
weather.  *  *  *  When  the  people  of  Charly  first  came  to  the  boat  they 

found  it  already  half  filled  with  our  Saulchery  friends.  We  overheard 
them  complaining  to  these  intruders :  ‘What !  have  you  not  had  enough 
of  your  boat !  Must  you  come  here,  too,  and  occupy  our  places  ?’  After¬ 
wards  they  took  the  precaution  to  come  earlier.  *  *  *  A  barber,  who 

never  missed  any  of  the  meetings,  while  shaving  his  customers  used  to  tell 
them  what  the  subjects  of  the  addresses  had  been  and  brought  many  of 
them  to  the  services.  *  *  *  What  most  astonished  us  at  Crouttes  as 

elsewhere,  was  the  fermentation  produced  throughout  the  whole  district 
and  during  several  months  by  the  passage  of  the  boat.  This  fermenta¬ 
tion  has  two  component  elements — there  is,  on  the  one  hand,  the  noisy 
part,  made  up  of  false  rumors,  calumnies  and  clerical  diatribes,  of  petty 
intrigues  and  serious  or  comic  indignation,  and  of  disputes  between  the 
two  parties;  but  on  the  other  hand,  silently,  below  the  surface,  there  is  a 
most  intense  moral  and  intellectual  heart-searching.  Testaments  are 
hunted  up,  old  Bibles  are  passed  from  hand  to  hand,  proof-texts  are  studied, 
the  subjects  of  the  addresses  are  analyzed.  We  believe  that  this  fermen¬ 
tation  is  an  indication,  as  well  as  a  cause,  of  life,  and  is  similar  to  that 
which  accompanied  Christ’s  preaching  of  old.” 

The  story  of  a  freethinker  of  Crouttes,  who  followed  the  boat  to 
Nanteuil  for  the  purpose  of  an  interview  with  M.  Huet,  is  a  case  in  point. 
“After  he  had  told  me  of  his  visit  to  a  journalist  who  tried  to  put  him  on 
his  guard  against  our  work,  he  planted  himself  right  in  front  of  me,  and 
looking  me  steadfastly  in  the  face,  said  most  solemnly:  ‘Oh,  sir!  Tell 
me  in  all  sincerity,  your  hand  on  your  conscience,  do  you  really  believe  in 
God?’  Since  that  day  I  have  realized  more  than  ever  the  necessity  of 
dealing  thoroughly,  at  each  of  our  stations,  with  this  fundamental  ques¬ 
tion.  I  have  seen  this  friend  again  many  times ;  I  have  lent  him  books ; 
he  possesses  a  Bible  which  he  reads  and  appreciates,  and  I  am  happy  to 
be  able  to  testify  that  he  has  now  become  an  earnest  and  enlightened 
believer.” 

Until  the  Huets  left  the  Bon  Messager  in  December,  1904,  it  is  a 
continuous  story  of  cordial  receptions  and  earnest  appreciation.  With 
surprise  and  gratitude  those  who  had  taken  part  in  the  services  on  previ¬ 
ous  visits  record  “what  deep  impressions  had  been  left,  how  well  the 
people  knew  the  hymns  and  how  popular  these  had  become.”  Of  the  boat’s 
third  visit  to  Meaux,  M.  Huet  writes :  “The  evenings  being  very  fine  the 
attendance  was  large  from  the  first  and  therefore  difficult  to  control.  On 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


7 


the  third  evening  the  crowd  was  so  great  on  and  especially  around  the 
boat  that  we  were  obliged,  much  to  our  regret,  to  call  in  the  aid  of 
the  police.  *  *  *  We  especially  remember  a  group  of  well-educated 

young  men — professors,  post  office  employees,  etc. — who  were  most  atten¬ 
tive  during  the  meetings,  and  during  the  first  weeks  had  frequent  talks 
with  us.” 

Now  and  then  a  disgruntled  priest,  who  had  long  been  preaching  to 
empty  seats  and  astonished  at  the  crowds  on  the  boat,  would  show  his 
jealousy;  but  for  the  most  part  popular  sympathy  was  with  the  little  floating 
chapel.  The  explanation  was  not  far  to  seek  and  was  frankly  given  by  a 
fine  old  man  of  eighty:  “If  our  cure  would  only  speak  of  Jesus  Christ  and 
explain  the  Gospel  as  you  do  he  would  not  have  to  reproach  us  for  leaving 


Interior  of  Le  Bon  Messager 


the  church  empty.”  Even  the  freethinking  schoolmasters,  whose  influence 
is  perhaps  the  strongest  over  the  children  in  France  to-day,  could  not  deter 
either  children  or  their  parents  from  coming  to  the  meetings.  One  such 
“posted  himself  regularly  every  evening  near  the  boat,  trying  to  stop,  by 
persuasion  or  by  ridicule,  those  who  came  that  way !”  The  Report  for 
1903  closes  with  the  words:  “We  feel  that  we  ought  to  thank  God  with 
all  our  hearts  for  giving  us  such  opportunities  of  evangelizing  those  who 
live  beside  the  rivers  of  France.” 

The  change  of  commanders  occurred  during  the  boat’s  fourth  mission 
at  Trilport.  Over  fifty  missions  had  been  held  during  this  third  cruise  on 
the  Marne ;  and  in  the  spring  the  new  “captain,”  M.  Cooreman,  took  the 
boat  for  her  second  cruise  up  the  valley  of  the  Seine  and  Yonne — as  in 
the  case  of  her  sojourn  on  the  Marne,  nearly  eight  years  having  elapsed 
since  her  previous  visit.  During  the  three  years — to  May  21,  1908 — given 


8 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


to  the  present  visit,  twenty-nine  missions  were  held,  for  the  most  part  ai 
towns  and  villages  where  the  boat  had  stopped  once  and  in  a  few  instances 
twice  before. 

Many  cordial  acclamations  greeted  the  little  craft:  “There  is  the 
Protestant  boat!”  cried  one.  Another:  “Sell  me  a  large  print  Testament; 
I  have  read  a  great  deal  of  the  Bible  that  I  bought  before.”  Still  others : 
“Since  you  were  last  here  a  service  has  been  held  twice  a  month,  and  on 
alternate  Sundays  we  go  to  another  meeting  eleven  miles  off.”  Not  a  few 
recalled  with  gratitude  the  boat’s  former  visit  as  the  time  of  their  conver¬ 
sion.  To  freethinkers  and  Catholics  alike  the  boat  brought  a  blessing. 
“The  interest  awakened  by  our  meetings,”  writes  M.  Cooreman,  “has  been 
shown  by  the  private  conversations  which  I  have  often  had  at  their  close. 
A  well-known  freethinker  said  to  me :  T  never  could  have  thought  that  I 
could  be  so  much  attracted  by  religious  questions  as  I  find  I  am  since 
coming  to  the  boat.  I  am  forced  to  believe  and  to  own  to  you  that  you  have 
rendered  my  conscience  more  clear-sighted  and  sensitive,  for  I  now  find 
many  imperfections  in  our  club  which  were  not  apparent  to  me  before. 
Therefore  I  am  breaking  it  up  publicly  in  order  to  reorganize  it  more 
worthily  and,  together  with  a  few  friends,  I  shall  soon  count  on  you  for  a 
talk  !’  ‘Without  ceasing  to  be  a  good  Catholic/  said  a  lady  to  me  one  day, 
‘for  about  twenty  years  past  I  have  not  been  satisfied  with  the  Romish 
Church.  I  want  something  more.  Your  meetings  have  done  me  a  great 
deal  of  good.  I  read  the  Gospel,  which  is  all  new  to  me;  it  is  what  I 
wanted.’  The  adopted  son  of  the  same  lady,  an  intelligent  schoolboy  of 
fifteen,  following  attentively  the  religious  instruction  of  the  priests  and 
often  asking  them  questions,  was  distressed  to  be  answered  continually : 
‘My  boy,  it  is  the  teaching  of  the  Church ;  it  is  not  right  to  dispute  about 
what  she  affirms.’  ‘On  the  boat,’  he  said  to  us,  ‘it  is  sensible  and  clear  !’ 
We  sometimes  receive  postcards  from  these  friends,  on  which  they  mention 
passages  from  the  Gospels  that  correspond  to  their  situation.” 

Of  the  dense  ignorance  of  true  Christianity,  of  the  need  of  a  per¬ 
manent  gospel  boat  in  the  Yonne  valley,  as  in  that  of  the  Marne,  some 
glimpses  may  be  had  from  the  following  comments  noted  by  M.  Cooreman 
while  holding  services  in  Auxerre.  To  the  question:  “What  do  you  know 
of  Jesus?”  one  child  answered:  “He  was  the  son  of  a  cobbler.”  Another 
said :  “It  was  he  who  founded  the  Catholic  Church.”  The  greater  number 
had  no  answer  to  give.  “We  cannot  believe  in  him,”  said  a  well-dressed 
man,  “for  he  abolished  the  family.”  “The  gospel  as  you  call  it,”  remarked 
another,  “the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  upholds  a  mass  of  errors  and  keeps 
up  the  state  of  riches  and  poverty.”  “We  are  seeking  for  one  who  will 
deliver  us  from  all  our  miseries,”  was  the  sad  confession  of  an  anarchist. 

So  the  experiences  of  the  boat  preachers,  like  those  of  the  servants 
of  Christ  everywhere,  run  the  gamut  of  realization  and  disappointment,  of 
promise  and  hopes  unfulfilled.  M.  Canet,  of  the  Limoges  Mission  hall, 
spending  some  weeks  on  the  Bon  Messager  the  following  summer,  wrote 
from  Villeneuve :  “If  the  success  of  the  meeting  is  to  be  judged  by 
numbers,  our  mission  here  is  certainly  a  good  one.  But  we  are  thankful 
for  something  better  than  mere  numbers.  At  the  end  of  the  first  week  a 
group  of  young  men  came  to  ask  an  interview,  that  we  might  explain  to 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


9 


them  our  religious  experiences  ‘in  order  to  give  them  the  opportunity  of 
seriously  reflecting  upon  the  uneasiness  which  from  time  to  time  oppresses 
them.’  ‘We  have  much  to  learn,’  said  one  to  me.  ‘We  are  going  on  to 
end  in  sheer  unbelief,  as  do  all  those  whom  Catholicism  does  not  satisfy.’  ” 
M.  Pacherie,  the  boat’s  colporteur,  meets,  in  the  course  of  the  years, 
men  of  all  sorts  and  conditions,  from  whose  various  points  of  view  much 
may  be  gathered  of  the  urgency  and  character  of  the  boats’  ministry.  Thus, 
from  a  village  not  far  from  the  Yonne  the  following  is  related  by  the 
indefatigable  Pacherie :  “I  came  across  a  saddler  at  his  work  and  offered 
him  my  books.  Greatly  annoyed  at  being  interrupted,  he  exclaimed,  ‘I 
have  no  time  to  look  at  your  books;  I  am  busy  and  have  to  get  this  job 
done  in  an  hour,  and  am  sure  it  will  take  over  two  hours  to  finish.’  I 
replied  very  quietly  that  if  he  was  so  pressed  I  would  gladly  help  him. 
(M.  Pacherie  is  a  saddler  by  trade.)  He  looked  at  me  with  a  mixture  of 
wonder  and  doubt  and  told  me  to  set  to.  So  I  showed  him  by  a  long  spell 
of  work  that  if  I  was  only  a  loafer  in  his  eyes,  yet  I  knew  how  to  do  an 
honest  day’s  work.  The  good  man  not  only  insisted  on  giving  me  a  dinner, 
but  bought  three  books  and  persuaded  others  to  do  the  same.”  From  a 
neighboring  village  he  reports:  “I  met  an  old  man  who  told  me  that  he 
had  studied  in  the  Catholic  schools  to  become  a  member  of  the  Christian 
Brothers,  dilating  upon  the  evil  things  he  had  seen  and  heard  while  in  the 
school  and  because  of  which  he  had  ceased  to  have  any  faith  since  that 
time.  We  had  a  long  discussion  and  I  showed  him  that  God  was  not  to  be 
charged  with  the  sins  of  men,  even  if  they  professed  His  name.  He 
promised  before  we  parted  that  he  would  go  to  the  meetings  on  the  boats.” 
It  is  a  very  typical  story  that  he  writes  from  still  another  hamlet :  “The 
woman  in  charge  of  the  stamp  and  tobacco  shop  informed  me  that  she  was 


On  the  Way  to  the  Boat 


IO 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


sixty-three  and  her  husband  seventy-one,  and  that  they  were  too  old  to 
think  of  changing  their  religion,  being  ‘good  Catholics.’  She  had  to  con¬ 
fess,  however,  that  she  did  not  believe  in  the  divinity  of  our  Lord,  nor  in 
the  sanctity  of  the  Virgin,  nor  in  confession,  nor  in  purgatory,  nor  in  hell. 
I  said  that  in  some  respects  she  had  more  in  common  with  Protestants 
than  with  Catholics,  but  this  she  did  not  wish  to  understand.” 


Basket-Makers — Photographed  by  Request 


An  interesting  instance  of  the  genuine  worth  of  the  boat’s  ministry  is 
also  reported  by  M.  Pacherie,  in  the  case  of  a  basket-maker,  converted  at 
the  time  of  the  boat’s  first  visit  nine  years  before,  and  who,  though  left 
without  other  spiritual  resource  than  the  Bible  he  had  bought,  had  never¬ 
theless  remained  steadfast.  “He  began,”  says  M.  Pacherie,  “by  telling  me 
how  impressed  he  had  been  with  the  preaching  on  the  boat,  and  how  deep 
he  found  was  the  chasm  that  separated  the  Church  of  Rome  from  the 
teaching  of  the  Bible.  I  had  a  long  talk  with  him  and  found  that  I  was 
conversing  with  a  man  who  really  understood  the  Word  of  God.  He  said 
that  he  had  never  ceased  to  read  his  Bible  and  had  tried  to  remember  all 
that  he  had  heard  on  the  boat.  His  wife  had  died  a  few  years  since  and 
was  buried  by  the  priest,  as  she  had  wished  it  and  he  had  respected  her 
desire.  Pastor  Fallourd,  of  Sens,  has  since  promised  to  visit  him,  as  he 
desires  to  unite  with  the  Church.” 

But  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  more  truly  representative  and  illumi¬ 
nating  incident  than  that  which  our  faithful  colporteur  describes  in  con¬ 
nection  with  a  visit  to  the  village  of  Chauviere.  Incidentally  it  also  reveals 
much  of  the  quality  of  the  man,  who  from  a  Limousin  peasant  has  become 
a  tactful  and  winsome  preacher  to  his  fellow-countrymen.  “A  family  of 
easy  circumstances  asked  me  to  tell  them  what  constituted  the  Protestant 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS  I  I 

religion,  and  in  particular  how  Protestants  pray.  I  first  read  them  some 
passages  from  the  Bible  and  showed  them  the  Bible  as  well  as  the  brochure, 
‘What  is  a  true  Protestant?’  Having  consulted  with  his  family  the  father 
then  bought  both  Bible  and  brochure.  After  I  had  told  them  that  prayer 
did  not  consist  in  mere  vain  repetition,  but  that  it  was  an  action  of  grace, 
a  dependence  upon  God  for  the  needs  of  each  day,  a  rendering  of  thanks  to 
the  Creator  for  the  blessings  one  receives,  and  also  a  Godward  outlook 
(un  regard  vers  Dieu)  in  our  moments  of  peace  or  of  anguish,  of  joy  or 
of  sadness — that  in  all  things  we  should  refer  our  lives  to  God — then  the 
daughter  of  the  family  begged  me  to  pray.  I  read  first  the  Lord’s  Prayer, 
and  then  I  made  a  short  prayer,  in  which  I  asked  of  God  that  He  would 
bless  my  work  and  the  members  of  this  household  who  had  bought  His 
Word ;  that  He  would  make  plain  to  them  by  meditation  upon  it  both  how 
they  might  approach  unto  Him,  and  also  that  He  looked  upon  them  as  His 
children;  that  the  blessing  which  came  upon  them  might  be  felt  among 
all  their  neighbors;  and  I  closed  by  asking  that  God’s  heavenly  benedic¬ 
tions  of  both  spiritual  joy  and  material  good  might  descend  upon  this  family 
and  the  entire  community.  When  I  had  ended  it  was  evident  that  all  were 
greatly  moved  and  seemingly  saying  silently  to  each  other :  ‘What !  Can 
it  be  that  that  is  the  way  Protestants  pray,  who,  we  have  been  taught,  do 
not  even  believe  in  God  !’  There  were  tears  in  the  daughter’s  eyes  as  I 
took  my  leave  and  the  father  thanked  me  heartily  for  the  hour  spent  in 
his  home.” 

The  impression  produced  upon  unprejudiced  minds  is  undoubtedly 
that  of  a  revelation.  “If  you  could  understand  how  new  it  all  is  to  us,” 
said  a  man  of  some  education  to  M.  Cooreman,  “all  that  we  hear  on  the 


Lace-Makers 


12 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


boat.  I  have  learned  more  with  you  during  these  few  weeks  than  I  have 
at  church  during  all  my  previous  life.” 

In  the  summer  of  1907  M.  Cooreman  was  transferred  by  the  Mission 
to  the  new  McAll  station  at  Nemours  and  M.  and  Mme  Brochet  were 
called  to  succeed  in  the  direction  of  the  boat.  The  Bon  Messager  was 
now  in  the  Seine,  headed  towards  Paris. 

Captain  Brochet’s  first  annual  report  is  most  cheerful  in  tone.  De¬ 
spite  the  vintage  and  consequently  small  audiences  at  Thomery,  “the 
meetings,”  he  writes,  “were  excellent.  Two  elderly  women,  one  eighty- 
seven,  the  other  ninety-three,  came  two  miles  on  foot  to  hear  about  ‘the 
good  God.’  ”  At  Valvins  he  tells  of  three  riverside  laborers,  all  drunkards, 

who  came  to  the  boat.  “At  first  all  three  came  fearfully  drunk.  C - 

was  struck  with  amazement  because  he  heard  in  the  meeting  that  Christ 

had  compassion  on  those  who  were  down  in  the  mire ;  M -  began  to 

come,  free  from  drink ;  B - promised  to  drink  no  more,  and  kept  his 

word,  at  least  till  we  were  too  far  away  to  visit  him.  Valvins  is  only 
about  two  miles  and  a  half  from  Fontainebleau,  so  that  we  had  many 
visitors,  all  of  whom  were  in  sympathy  with  the  work.” 

The  pen  of  Mrs.  George  Theophilus  Dodds,  widow  of  our  lamented 
co-worker  in  the  Mission’s  early  days  and  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  Hora- 
tius  Bonar,  draws  a  vivid  picture  of  a  visit  to  the  boat  at  this  time : 

“The  last  evening  of  my  stay  in  Paris  was  spent  in  a  visit  to  Le 
Bon  Messager,  at  Hericy,  on  the  Seine.  It  was  the  closing  night  of  a 
month’s  mission.  It  was  a  dark  night,  and  when  we  got  down  from  the 


“Captain”  and  Madame  Brochet 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


13 


train  only  the  ghost-like  outline  of  trees  on  either  bank  of  the  river  could 
be  traced.  The  roads  were  muddy;  the  rain  dripped  slowly,  but  as  we 
came  near  the  boat  it  was  well  lighted  and  red  azaleas  at  the  entrance, 
a  gift  from  some  friend,  shone  brilliantly.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Greig  and  my¬ 
self,  with  M.  and  Mme  Brochet  and  M.  Pacherie,  ate  a  simple  dinner  on 
board  rather  hastily,  as  the  things  had  to  be  cleared  before  the  people 
began  to  arrive. 

“Towards  eight  o’clock  they  began  to  come  in  by  ones,  twos  and 
threes.  We  heard  the  splash  of  oars  as  some  were  being  ferried  over 
the  river.  At  last  the  hall  was  nearly  full.  M.  Foulquier,  the  speaker, 
arrived,  and  the  meeting  began  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Greig.  Several 
hymns  were  sung  and  the  people  were  determined  to  enjoy  them  on  this 
last  evening.  Some  young  women  near  the  front  sang  well  and  seemed 
thoroughly  accustomed  to  the  hymns  and  tunes.  The  fact  was,  these 
and  others  had  been  attending  the  meetings  for  two  months,  having  begun 
to  come  at  the  former  stopping  place  of  the  boat  and  having  followed  on 
to  Hericy,  a  walk  of  several  miles,  and  they  were  prepared  to  follow  still 
farther  on  to  the  next  place — at  least  on  Sunday  nights. 

“I  spoke  to  a  young  man  who  expressed  keen  interest.  ‘One  heard 
serious  things  there,  not  as  at  other  places  where  one  went  to  be  amused.’ 
He  asked  why  the  boat  could  not  always  stay  there;  he  remembered  its 
coming  ten  years  previously,  when  he  must  have  been  quite  a  young  boy, 
and  had  never  lost  interest. 

“All  three  speakers  were  very  good,  mostly  upon  the  change  of 
heart  required  and  given  by  God.  M.  Brochet  makes  a  bright  and  sym¬ 
pathetic  captain  and  his  wife  seconds  him.” 

A  testimony  from  an  unexpected  source,  the  village  schoolmaster, 
was  given  during  the  stay  at  Fontaine-le-Post.  “I  am  very  glad,”  said 
this  gentleman  to  M.  Brochet,  “of  the  good  moral  influence  you  have  over 
these  young  men,  though  you  draw  them  from  me;  I  have  an  evening 
class  for  adults,  which  they  have  abandoned  to  go  to  the  boat.”  “We 
had,”  adds  M.  Brochet,  “a  capital  mission.  Most  of  those  who  came 
were  young  men,  masons,  who  astonished  us  by  their  earnest  and  rever¬ 
ent  behavior  ;  they  sang  our  hymns  with  much  enthusiasm.  We  arranged 
a  Christmas  tree,  which  was  a  great  success.  Each  one  had  done  his  and 
her  best  to  have  a  beautiful  boat,  and  they  had  succeeded.  Three  children 
went  seven  miles  with  a  wheelbarrow  to  fetch  us  some  mistletoe ;  the  boat 
was  decorated  with  evergreens  and  paper  roses.  This  fete  will  be  long 
remembered  in  the  district.  Unfortunately  there  was  not  room  enough 
for  all  who  came.” 

At  Melun,  again,  it  is  the  wife  of  a  professor  of  science  who  gives 
her  testimony.  Although  a  pious  Catholic,  she  was  disappointed  by  the 
emptiness  of  the  pompous  ceremonies  of  her  religion  and  still  more  by 
the  teaching  of  her  Church.  “All  is  new  to  me,”  she  said  one  evening 
after  the  meeting,  “because  all  is  new  within  me.  I  do  not  know  myself. 
I  used  to  try  to  earn  everything.  I  strove  to  multiply  my  good  works, 
yet  each  day  I  became  more  fearful  and  discouraged.  I  came  here  almost 
in  terror;  it  was  so  novel  to  hear  preaching  on  a  boat;  but  even  the  first 
evening  I  was  struck  by  the  hymns,  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  and 


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The  Thickly  Clustered  Villages  of  the  Marne  Valley 


SEVEN’  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS  I  5 

the  words  of  the  speaker.  Now  I  can  breathe  freely;  I  believe,  yea,  I 
know,  that  God  loves  me,  that  He  is  my  Father,  that  Jesus  came  to  save 
us,  that  God  forgives,  and  that  He  gives  us  eternal  life  in  Jesus  Christ.” 

The  last  mission  on  the  Seine  of  which  this  account  may  make  men¬ 
tion  was  at  Corbeil,  a  little  city  of  8000  people,  and  in  regard  to  which  M. 
Brochet  writes :  “Most  of  the  evenings  the  boat  was  too  small  to  hold 
the  crowds,  the  many  who  came  late  being  obliged  to  remain  on  the 
bank,  from  which,  indeed,  they  could  hear  what  was  said  inside,  their  only 
inconvenience  being  the  rough  stones  upon  which  they  were  obliged  to 
sit.  During  this  mission  (which  lasted  nearly  six  weeks)  we  had  an 
average  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  serious  and  courteous  hearers.  Some 
persons  would  always  come  an  hour  in  advance  of  the  service  to  make 
sure  of  their  seats  and  in  order  to  talk  with  us — sincere  seekers  of  the 
light.  I  am  sure  that  if  the  pastor  at  Corbeil  follows  up  our  work  he  will 
receive  large  accessions  to  his  church.” 

At  the  end  of  May  the  boat  left  the  Seine  to  make  her  second  visit 
to  the  Oise  and  Aisne,  after  an  absence  of  fourteen  years.  As  on  the 
former  sojourn,  the  first  mission  was  held  at  Soissons,  a  city  of  12,500 
people.  Here  were  Protestant  friends,  enthusiastic  and  sympathetic, 
whose  faithfulness  was  a  power  in  upholding  the  speakers  and  workers  at 
the  meetings  during  the  two  months  spent  in  this  town. 

“In  particular,”  wrote  M.  Brochet,  “I  noted  the  serious  and  close 
attention  paid  by  a  somewhat  satirical  freethinker,  according  to  whose 
way  of  thinking  science  had  demolished  all  religious  beliefs.  I  even  saw 
him  assenting  to  my  statements  several  times  by  nodding  his  head.  ‘That 
man  fairly  cornered  me/  he  said  on  going  outside.  ‘I  have  traveled 
much,  I  have  read  much,  and  I  thought  I  knew  enough  to  be  in  the 
right  when  I  believed  in  neither  the  truth  nor  the  utility  of  any  religion; 
but  frankly,  after  what  I  have  just  heard,  I  find  myself  forced  to  acknowl¬ 
edge  that  I  have  many  things  to  learn  and  that  the  religious  question  is 
worth  more  serious  examination  than  I  have  given  it  thus  far.’  ” 


Mediaeval  Farmhouse  in  Pommiers 


1 6  SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 

September  was  spent  at  Pommiers,  where  many  of  the  villagers 
recalled  the  passage  of  the  boat  in  1894  and  came  with  joy  to  the  meetings, 
“happy  to  have  the  chance  to  sit  again  on  the  benches  of  the  boat  which 
they  loved  so  dearly.”  “Surely,”  wrote  an  American  visitor  who  attended 
one  of  the  services  here,  “there  is  not  even  in  Brittany  a  more  picturesque 
village  than  this  tiny  hamlet  of  Pommiers,  with  its  single  street.  The 
quaint  little  twelfth  century  church,  the  old  wine  depot  with  its  beautiful 
entrance  steps,  the  outside  stairways,  the  odd  gables,  and,  prettiest  of  all, 
the  numerous  well-houses,  sometimes  garlanded  with  vines  and  creepers, 
combine  to  form  a  charming  bit  of  rural  France.  Beyond  the  village  we 
crossed  a  turnip  field,  and  then,  passing  under  trees  heavily  laden  with 
purple  damsons,  reached  the  banks  of  the  Aisne  and  the  Bon  Messager.” 

After  the  boat’s  departure  it  was  decided  to  hold  a  meeting  once 
a  week  in  one  of  the  village  houses  and  eighty-six  persons  came  to  this 
meeting,  conducted  by  the  pastor  from  Soissons. 

The  Fontenoy  mission  was  equally  encouraging.  “Many  people  came 
each  evening  many  miles  to  attend  the  meetings,  and  that  after  a  long 
day  of  labor  in  the  fields.  I  recall,”  adds  M.  Brochet,  “one  woman  who 
had  not  time  to  eat,  and  who  put  a  piece  of  bread  in  her  pocket,  of  which 
from  time  to  time  during  the  service  she  would  take  a  bite.”  During 
the  fall,  Le  Christianisme  published  the  following,  taken  from  one  of  the 
secular  journals  and  written  by  one  of  those  who  had  taken  part  in  the 
conduct  of  the  Fontenoy  mission :  “Since  our  departure  I  had  opportunity 
to  return  to  Fontenoy  to  visit  a  family  which  had  faithfully  attended  our 
meetings.  I  learned  that  every  evening  they  gather  around  the  fireplace; 
the  little  daughter  reads  a  chapter  from  a  gospel,  the  father  (who  is  a 
municipal  councillor)  gives  out  a  hymn  which  all  sing  together,  after 
which  some  member  of  the  family  ‘makes  the  conference ’ — that  is  to  say, 
talks  on  the  subject  of  the  chapter  read.  I  learn  also  that  the  same  thing 
takes  place  in  several  homes.” 

From  Choisy,  the  last  mission  on  the  Aisne,  and  of  equal  interest 
with  the  others,  M.  Brochet  writes  of  his  impressions  of  the  ten  months 
spent  in  this  territory:  “We  can  say  that  the  valley  of  the  Aisne  has  been 
for  us  and  for  many  a  Valley  of  joy.’  Everywhere  the  Bon  Messager 
has  been  welcomed;  everywhere  her  departure  has  been  lamented.  Letters 
from  friends  prove  to  us  that  we  have  not  labored  in  vain,  as  is  indicated 
still  further  by  our  book  sales — 800  hymn  books,  216  New  Testaments 
and  44  Bibles,  outside  of  those  bought  from  M.  Pacherie.” 

With  the  closing  of  the  six  weeks’  services  at  Choisy  the  boat  was 
towed  into  the  Oise,  stopping  three  weeks  at  Venette,  just  south  of 
Compiegne,  spending  June  at  La  Croix-St.  Ouen  and  being  at  the 
present  moment  at  Verberie.  It  would  be  the  writer’s  pleasure  to 
describe  a  June  Sunday  afternoon  and  evening  at  La  Croix-St.  Ouen 
when  the  children  stood  on  the  gangway  to  be  “snapped”  before  going  inside 
to  their  Bible  lesson,  and  when  for  want  of  a  flashlight  apparatus  it  was 
impossible  to  take  a  picture  of  the  audience  which  quite  filled  the  boat  at 
the  evening  service.  What  Mrs.  Dodds  wrote  of  Captain  Brochet  is  truly 
said — as  the  spirit  of  his  reports,  quoted  from  above,  clearly  shows — and 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS  1 7 

she  might  have  added  a  word  of  Mme  B rochet’s  singing,  whose  sweet 
solos  on  the  evening  referred  to  supplemented  and  reinforced  the  strong 
appeal  made  by  the  preacher,  Monsieur  d’Aubigne. 

It  was  as  she  left  La  Croix,  some  days  later,  for  Verberie  that  the 
boat  was  photographed  in  tow — not  too  proud  to  bring  up  the  end  of  the 
procession  of  canalboats,  among  which  she  is  registered.  “Bon  voyage !” 
we  shouted  to  her  as  she  passed  under  the  bridge  near  her  mooring  place. 
On  all  her  voyages  may  she  carry  the  good  wishes  expressed  for  her  by 
one  to  whom  she  had  brought  peace  and  life :  “And  thou,  gallant  little 
Bon  Messager,  go  on  thy  way  and  continue  thy  blessed  work  under  the 


Members  of  the  Paris  McAll  Board  in  President  Bach’s  Garden 
From  left  to  right  (seated)  :  Messieurs  Merlin,  Beigbeder,  Bach,  Rouilly,  Benham, 
de  Grenier-Latour ;  (standing):  Messieurs  d’Aubigne  and  Greig 


guiding  hand  of  God  !  Go  on  to  sow  along  thy  route  the  message  of  ever¬ 
lasting  peace,  and  to  point  us  to  the  glad  day  when  all  God’s  children  shall 
be  gathered  in  their  Father’s  house  to  praise  Him  for  ever.” 

“I  do  not  know  the  name,”  said  Monsieur  Beigbeder,  Director  of  the 
McAll  Mission,  at  the  last  annual  meeting  in  Paris,  “of  the  man  who  first 
conceived  the  idea  of  our  chapel  boats;  but  I  do  know  that  it  was  God 
who  inspired  him.  All  who  have  taken  part  in  the  daily  boat  services  are 
unanimous  as  to  the  great  success  of  these  missionary  circuits.” 

If  this  observation  is  true  of  the  Bon  Messager ,  it  is  equally  true  of 
the  Mission’s  second  boat,  La  Bonne  Nouvelle.  In  the  total  audience  of 
over  200,000  which  has  passed  over  her  gangway  during  the  sixty  missions 
she  has  held  in  the  last  seven  years  the  romances  of  new-born  lives  are 
many,  and  every  year  her  story  is  full  of  fresh  fascination. 


1 8  SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 

La  Bonne  Nouvelle  is  considerably  longer  than  the  older  boat  and 
somewhat  narrower,  to  enable  her  to  pass  through  the  locks  everywhere. 
Her  seating  capacity  is  about  the  same,  but  there  is  more  standing  room 
than  on  the  Bon  Messager  and  one  more  room  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  captain’s  family. 

Of  her  first  twelve  months’  work  on  the  Loing  and  Orleans  canals  it 
was  written  at  the  time  that  she  “met  with  very  great  success  and  blessing.” 
“Perhaps,”  said  Mr.  Greig,  “the  average  audiences  were  larger  than  those 
we  have  seen  on  the  Bon  Messager,  but  what  was  most  striking  was  the 
hunger  of  the  people  for  the  Gospel.  Not  only  would  the  audience  linger 
after  the  meeting  was  ended,  to  have  a  word  with  the  captain  or  his  wife 
or  the  evangelist  of  the  evening,  but  they  would  come  dropping  in  during 
the  day  to  ask  a  few  more  questions ;  or  avail  themselves  of  a  market  day 
or  a  holiday  to  seek  out  again  the  friends  who  had  now  left  their  district 
and  hear  once  again  the  glad  news  of  salvation.  There  is  no  man  on 
earth  more  unwilling  to  part  with  his  money  for  what  brings  in  no  tangible 
profit  than  a  French  peasant,  and  yet  scores  of  them  paid  two,  three  or  four 
francs  of  railway  fare  that  they  might  have  another  talk  with  M.  and 
Mme  Dautry  and  join  once  more  in  a  gospel  meeting.” 

An  example  of  the  democratic  character  of  the  audiences  is  given  in 
M.  Dautry’s  account  of  the  meetings  at  Souppes :  “During  the  four  weeks 
of  our  stay,  though  the  weather  was  often  atrocious  and  in  spite  of  our 
distance  from  the  village,  we  had  an  average  of  150  to  160  each  night, 
people  of  all  classes  and  of  all  shades  of  opinion.  A  rich  proprietor  would 
elbow  a  field  laborer;  peace-loving  ‘bourgeois’  would  find  themselves 
sitting  beside  ardent  Socialists  or  bigoted  Catholics  beside  fervent  apostles 
of  free  thought.  Yet  the  crowd  was  so  quiet  it  was  difficult  to  believe  that 
it  was  composed  of  such  heterogeneous  elements.  At  the  earnest  request 
of  the  men  from  the  quarries  (from  which  came  all  the  stone  used  for 
the  construction  of  the  Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart  at  Montmartre)  we 
held  a  special  service  for  them  at  midday  and  about  fifty  of  them  came 
each  day.” 

At  times  each  boat,  as  already  indicated,  encounters  some  opposi¬ 
tion  from  a  jealous  priest;  and  M.  Dautry  met  with  this  experience 
during  the  mission  at  Cepoy ;  but  as  in  so  many  other  instances,  the  story 
of  the  priest’s  anger  is  but  the  story  of  his  waning  authority  and  of  the 
people’s  hunger  for  something  beyond  what  he  has  to  give  them.  The 
cure  of  Cepoy  “finding  it  impossible  to  keep  his  parishioners  in  church  took 
to  distributing  anti-Protestant  publications  at  the  door  after  mass,  but  all 
to  no  purpose;  he  only  sent  us  new  hearers.  One  of  the  most  faithful  of 
his  flock,  who  is  also  a  regular  attendant  at  the  boat,  said  to  me  one  day : 
‘M.  le  Cure  will  certainly  reproach  me  for  coming  here  so  often,  but  I 
have  my  answer  ready,  for  I  have  learned  more  in  a  week  on  the  boat 
than  I  have  during  forty  years  at  church.  Let  him  preach  the  Gospel  as 
you  do  and  we  shall  ask  nothing  more.  As  far  as  I  am  concerned,  as 
long  as  you  are  here  I  shall  not  miss  a  meeting.’  ” 

It  was  on  this  voyage  that  the  foundation  was  laid  for  the  work  since 
established  at  Nemours.  Two  Protestant  families,  struck  by  the  success 
attained,  offered  to  open  at  their  own  expense  a  permanent  mission  hall. 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


l9 


Then  five  Catholic  families  plead  so  strongly  for  the  continuance  of  the 
work  that  in  February  a  bi-monthly  meeting  was  commenced.  The  boat’s7 
all-winter  mission  1904-5  gave  the  final  inspiration  to  the  splendid  Nemours 
work  in  progress  ever  since. 

M.  Dautry  calls  attention  particularly  in  his  report  of  the  Nargis 
mission  to  the  help  of  the  music,  the  hymns  referred  to  being  those  of  the 
compilation  from  the  Cantiques  Populaires  specially  prepared  for  the  boat 
services :  ‘The  hymn  singing  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  success  of 
this  mission.  The  very  first  week  we  were  able  to  gather  together  some 


The  Old  Moat  in  Nemours 


fifteen  people,  who  came  with  delight  every  evening  half  an  hour  before 
the  meeting  to  practice  the  hymns  and  then  help  with  the  singing.  This 
‘choir’  made  enough  progress  to  be  able  to  sing  in  two  parts  several  special 
hymns  at  our  last  service,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  hearers.  Most 
of  them  turned  up  at  our  Christmas  fete  at  Montargis.” 

Montargis  is  on  the  crest  of  the  watershed  between  the  Seine  and 
the  Loire.  The  town  figured  prominently  in  the  religious  wars  of  the 
sixteenth  century;  and  the  recollection  of  the  Protestant  decimation  at 
that  time  makes  all  the  more  noteworthy  the  existence  there  to-day  of  the 
little  Protestant  church  to  which  M.  Dautry  refers  in  his  report.  “My 
immediate  predecessor,”  said  the  pastor  of  this  church  with  a  grim  humor, 
“was  burned  at  the  stake  !” 


20 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


It  was  here  that  the  Bonne  Nouvelle’s  first  Christmas  was  passed. 
“A  large  number  of  the  friends  with  whom  we  had  kept  in  touch,”  writes 
Captain  Dautry,  “were  invited  to  a  special  service  at  2  p.  m.  Behind 
them  appeared  our  Montargis  friends,  along  with  their  pastor,  who  had 
promised  to  take  part  in  the  meeting.  Then  we  let  in  the  crowd  that  had 
already  gathered  outside  and  in  a  few  minutes  every  seat  was  occupied. 
The  Christmas  hymns  learned  specially  in  view  of  this  meeting  in  the  last 
three  stations  we  had  visited,  the  strange  composition  of  the  audience,  and 
the  manifest  happiness  of  all  present,  combined  with  the  associations  of 
Christmas  to  make  this  afternoon  a  time  of  special  blessing.  The  fol¬ 
lowing  Sunday  we  were  invited  to  the  Christmas  tree  of  the  Montargis 
church.  Along  with  us  had  also  been  invited  eighty  people,  parents  and 
children,  from  Cepoy.  A  generous  Protestant  family  of  the  neighborhood, 
whose  members  had  often  visited  the  boat,  arranged  with  the  ladies  of 
Montargis  to  give  the  Cepoy  people  this  surprise :  they  paid  for  their 
journey  to  Montargis  and  each  child  received,  besides  toys  and  cakes,  a 
book  with  the  inscription:  En  souvenir  de  la  Bonne  Nouvelle.” 

The  phenomenal  welcome  accorded  to  the  Bonne  Nouvelle  during  this 
first  year’s  work  continued  unabated  throughout  the  following  year,  more 
exactly  the  sixteen  months  given  to  the  towns  between  Montargis  and 
Orleans.  “All  along  the  Canal  d’ Orleans,”  continues  the  report,  “the 
meetings  have  been  followed  with  unbroken  success,  and  to  give  an  account 
of  each  station  would  be  but  to  repeat  the  same  story  of  blessing  and 
encouragement.” 

Mr.  Brown,  for  so  many  years  the  faithful  and  able  director  of  the 
Salle  Rivoli  in  Paris,  and  who  spent  a  week  on  board  the  boat  during  this 
period,  thus  describes  a  midsummer  Sunday  at  Grignon :  “It  was  the 
festival  of  the  village  and  from  miles  around  the  people  crowded  in  and 
the  great  attraction  was  the  boat.  They  came  in  carts  and  traps,  on  bicycles 
and  afoot,  old  and  young.  Never  before  had  such  a  strange  craft  been 
moored  in  their  peaceful  waters.  So  all  day  long  the  Dautrys  were  ‘at 
home.’  At  the  afternoon  meeting,  usually  a  children’s  service,  172  were 
present,  and  in  the  evening  fully  270  were  packed  in,  every  inch  of  room 
being  occupied  and  many  standing  on  the  banks  to  catch  what  they  could 
through  the  open  windows.  A  large  number  of  Testaments  and  hymn 
books  were  disposed  of,  and  of  course  tracts  were  given  to  every  one. 

“  ‘Do  not  suppose  that  only  little  fish  come  into  our  nets ;  we  get 
the  big  ones  also,’  said  M.  Boutmy.  ‘The  mayor,  the  doctor,  and  the 
schoolmaster  have  all  come.’  After  learning  all  that  he  could  on  Sunday, 
a  schoolmaster  from  Lorris  came  over  the  following  day  to  learn  yet 
more.  He  bought  a  Bible  and  all  the  books  he  could,  confessing  how  hard 
was  his  task  to  teach  morals  to  his  pupils,  confused  between  the  Clericals 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  Freethinkers  on  the  other.  To  my  knowledge,” 
concludes  Pastor  Brown,  “the  boat  has  influenced  four  teachers,  three 
being  now  in  active  Mission  work  and  the  fourth  the  wife  of  a  missionary 
in  Spain.” 

In  similar  vein  Pastor  Sirven,  of  Orleans,  invited  by  the  Paris  Com¬ 
mittee  to  give  his  help,  writes  of  his  impressions:  “I  spoke  to  crowded 
seats  and  to  hearers  attentive,  quiet  and  interested.  *  *  *  These  happy 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


21 


gatherings  continued  evening  after  evening,  and  every  evening  from  the 
villages  where  the  boat  had  previously  stopped  came,  notwithstanding  the 
cold  and  wet,  little  groups  of  ten,  fifteen  or  twenty  persons,  walking  two, 
three  or  four  miles  to  attend  the  meetings,  and  returning  in  the  darkness 
of  the  night  to  their  homes.  I  sum  up  by  saying  that  the  work  of  La 
Bonne  Nouvelle  has  seemed  to  us  to  be  the  most  successful  method  of 
evangelization  in  our  district.” 

Here  and  there  the  great  landowners  of  the  Clerical  party  held  their 
tenants  in  leash.  “We  would  go  to  your  meetings,  but  we  dare  not.  We 
must  keep  in  with  our  betters,  for  they  find  us  work,”  said  a  woman  to 
the  colporteur.*  Yet  at  another  town,  Checy,  despites  the  malicious  efforts 
to  stop  the  mission  by  a  landowner  of  such  spirit,  from  the  first  night 


A  Market  Place  in  the  Upper  Loire 


to  the  last  of  a  five  weeks’  stay  the  audiences  averaged  160  persons,  while 
60  Bibles  and  Testaments  and  180  hymn  books  were  sold. 

Again  the  freethinkers  came  under  the  spell  of  the  boat.  M.  Boutmy, 

the  colporteur,  says :  “When  calling  on  the  people  at  B - ,  some  one  said 

to  me,  ‘Go  and  see  M.  X - .  He  is  a  man  quite  above  the  average,  who 

has  had  a  thorough  education,  is  in  fact  one  of  our  municipal  councillors.’ 
I  went  to  see  him  and  was  received  in  a  friendly  manner.  We  at  once 
began  to  speak  about  the  boat.  T  like  your  meetings,’  he  said,  although 
in  religious  matters  I  do  not  think  as  you  do.  I  believe  in  nothing  in  fact, 
but  your  meetings  have  troubled  me.  They  make  me  understand  what 
religion  is.  What  is  there  more  beautiful  than  the  teachings  of  that 
Christ  of  whom  you  speak?  You  may  take  it  that  I  shall  not  forget  your 
meetings/  Before  we  separated  he  bought  a  Bible  from  me.” 

*Such  political  and  economic  slavery  has  been  much  lessened,  however,  since  the 
passage  of  the  Separation  Law. 


22  SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  sojourn  on  the  Canal  d’ Orleans  the  Bonne 
Nouvelle  was  sent  back  to  St.  Mammes  for  repairs.  On  the  27th  of  Octo¬ 
ber  she  returned  to  Nemours  for  the  second  memorable  mission,  which 
lasted  until  Easter,  1905,  when  the  Nemours  hall,  in  the  vacated  convent 
of  the  Sisters  of  St.  Louis,  was  dedicated  with  impressive  ceremonies. 
After  a  half-dozen  brief  stops  at  former  stations  on  the  Canal  du  Loing 
the  boat  passed  through  Montargis  into  the  Canal  de  Briare ,  an  entire 
year,  or  until  June,  1906,  being  given  to  eight  missions  along  the  latter 
waterway. 

M.  Tricot,  who  was  the  preacher 
for  a  week  at  Dordives,  wrote  to 
the  committee :  “The  numbers  grew 
larger  and  larger,  so  that  the  last  two 
evenings  there  were  at  least  a  hun¬ 
dred  who  were  not  able  to  find  room 
on  the  boat.”  So  loath  were  the  peo¬ 
ple  to  say  “adieu”  on  the  farewell 
night  that  M.  Dautry  “had  to  clap  his 
hands,  and  thus  try  to  make  them 
understand  at  last  that  it  was  really 
time  to  leave  the  boat  and  go  to  their 
homes.” 

“Those  who  live  above  Mon¬ 
targis,”  writes  Captain  Dautry,  “are 
evidently  the  same  as  those  below, 
that  is  to  say,  open-hearted  and 
kindly.  From  the  first  the  meetings 
at  Amilly  were  well  attended  and 
formed  the  subject  of  many  conversa¬ 
tions  during  the  day.  Unfortunately, 
the  ignorance  of  religious  matters  is 
so  great  that  it  is  often  difficult  to 
make  one's  self  understood.  On 
Whitsunday,  out  of  120  who  were 
present  at  the  children’s  meeting  no 
one  could  explain  the  origin  of  the 
festival.  Tt  is  true,’  some  one  said 
to  me  afterwards,  ‘we  celebrate  and 
celebrate  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
A  Favorite  Speaker  on  the  Boats  time  we  do  not  know  why.’  A  lady  at 

Rogny  said  to  me:  ‘What  I  learn  on 
board  the  boat  is  quite  a  revelation. 
I  had  never  seen  anything  in  religion  but  a  number  of  dogmas,  of  empty 
formulas,  whilst  I  now  see  in  the  Gospel  a  source  of  light  and  refreshment. 
What  a  blessing  it  would  be  to  us  to  have  these  nice  meetings  always  !  What 
will  become  of  us  when  you  leave?’”  The  sale  of  Bibles  and  Testaments 
was  unusually  large  at  this  station — 150  all  told,  besides  290  hymn  books 
and  over  250  pamphlets  of  different  kinds. 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


23 


On  the  1 2th  of  June,  1906,  the  Bonne  Nouvelle  entered  the  Loire 
Lateral  Canal  to  begin  her  slow  journey  of  three  years  to  the  south.  At 
Chatillon-sur- Loire  she  encountered  a  population  largely  dominated  by 
the  combined  influence  of  capitalism  and  clericalism,  “bowed  down  under 
the  tyranny  of  the  priests  and  of  the  rich  of  the  place.”  “Yet  even  here,” 
writes  M.  Tricot,  again  with  the  boat  for  a  week,  “I  was  as  a  rule  politely 
received  on  my  visits  from  home  to  home  and  sold  thirty-three  Testa¬ 
ments.  Going  into  several  homes  of  the  sick  I  was  able  to  pray  with  them, 
a  service  most  gratefully  received.”  “Your  work,”  remarked  an  old  sol¬ 
dier,  “can  have  only  the  sympathy  of  all  who  love  God  and  who  love 
France.”  The  revival  of  the  little  Protestant  church,  the  sole  survival 
of  Reformation  influence  in  the  town — where,  before  the  Catholic  army 
under  the  Duke  of  Guise  had  razed  it  to  the  ground,  2000  Protestants 
had  lived  in  prosperity  and  peace — was  well  worth  the  time  given  to  the 
Chatillon  mission.  It  was  the  writer’s  privilege  to  hear  this  testimony 
from  the  lips  of  a  prominent  member  of  this  church,  who  with  his  family 
came  five  miles  on  a  Sunday  evening  to  attend  yet  another  service  on  the 
boat  when  it  was  moored  at  Beaulieu,  the  next  station. 

As  a  rule,  however,  even  in  this  Clerical  section  of  France,  the  Bonne 
Nouvelle  was  crowded  to  its  capacity.  “We  have  often  had  to  leave  many 
would-be  hearers  outside”  is  M.  Dautry’s  report.  “One  evening  there 
were  more  than  500  struggling  to  get  in.  For  several  consecutive  Sundays 
we  had  two  meetings,  one  after  the  other,  in  the  evening,  and  the  boat 


La  Bonne  Nouvelle — Full  to  Overflowing 


24 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


was  always  full,  which  induced  the  mayor  of  the  locality  to  say,  in  great 
astonishment:  ‘When  we  here  get  up  meetings,  whatever  the  subject  may 
be,  we  have  the  greatest  difficulty  in  gathering  together  a  small  audience; 
but  your  boat  is  always  full.  I  wonder  what  you  can  have  to  say  that  is 
so  attractive?’  I  must  add  that  these  large  audiences  were  always 
extremely  attentive.” 

On  the  whole,  public  opinion  was  sympathetic,  for  even  among  the 
Catholics  things  like  these  were  said:  “If  only  we  were  taught  our  reli¬ 
gion  as  you  do  it !  But  we  have  nothing  of  the  kind,  for  even  those  who 
have  attended  our  church  services  most  regularly  know  nothing  at  all :  it 
is  that  ignorance  that  works  our  ruin.”  “You  cannot  understand  how 
utterly  new  everything  you  say  to  us  is.  I  have  learned  more  during  these 
few  weeks  that  I  have  been  with  you  than  I  have  at  church  during  my 
whole  previous  life.”  And  again:  “Your  work  does  a  great  deal  of  good; 
those  who  are  weary  and  discouraged  find  strength  and  energy  in  the 
meetings.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  many  tears,  how  much  grief,  the  boat 
has  saved  me  this  winter,  nor  express  all  my  gratitude  to  you  for  what  I 
have  received.” 

It  is  a  gratification  to  quote  again  from  Mrs.  Dodds,  whose  graphic 
pen  draws  a  most  characteristic  picture  of  the  boat  at  this  time.  She 
writes : 


T  accomnanied  Mr.  Greig  to  the  boat,  La  Bonne  Nouvelle.  on  the 
ioth  of  October,  a  beautiful,  long  autumn  day.  We  left  the  Gare  de 
Lyon  for  Tracy-Sancerre,  and  as  we  went  south,  the  country  being 
in  full  vintage,  you  could  see  the  peasants  in  this  field  and  that  filling 
their  baskets  with  grapes;  and  the  Loire  came  into  evidence,  winding 
in  and  out,  now  near  and  now  far  off.  We  got  to  Tracy  at  eleven, 
and  walked  about  a  mile  to  Saint  Thibaud,  right  across  the  Loire 
over  a  long  bridge.  Saint  Thibaud  was  where  the  boat  was  last,  but 
now  is  at  Menetreol,  some  two  miles  farther.  The  country  is  full  of 
villages,  populous,  busy ;  besides  the  three  I  have  mentioned,  there  is 
Sancerre  on  the  hill,  an  old  Roman  fort  commanding  the  whole 
country  round,  and  Saint  Satur,  on  the  way  up,  a  very  large  village 
where  we  saw  a  well  with  a  windlass,  and  a  man  slowly  drawing  up 
the  bucket  of  water,  perhaps  after  the  fashion  of  the  woman  of 
Samaria.  I  am  told  that  such  wells  are  common  in  France,  but  I 
never  saw  one  before. 

At  Saint  Thibaud  M.  Dautry  met  us,  and  after  some  refreshment 
in  a  little  auberge,  opposite  the  bridge,  we  went  to  the  boat,  turning 
away  from  the  broad  river  itself  and  crossing  the  canal,  still  broad 
and  beautiful,  but  more  peaceful,  till  we  came  to  the  hamlet  in  front 
of  which  the  boat  was  lying.  She  is  exactly  like  her  picture.  I  had 
not  realized  how  well  and  solidly  she  is  put  together,  everything  cal¬ 
culated  for  packing  much  into  little  room.  We  found  the  captain’s 
wife,  and  no  less  than  four  little  black-eyed,  rosy-faced  children,  who 
inhabit  there.  The  children  have  a  healthy,  free  life,  and  do  not  seem 
to  tumble  into  the  water,  as  one  would  expect.  The  only  difficulty  is 
about  sending  them  to  school,  as  the  constant  changes  of  their  floating 
home  is  not  conducive  to  consecutive  education. 

We  spent  a  pleasant  hour  in  the  little  cabin,  being  regaled  with 
tea,  and  finding  our  hosts  most  pleasant  to  talk  to. 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


25 


We  returned  again  for  the  evening  meeting,  when  Mr.  Greig  and 
M.  Tricot  spoke,  most  forcibly,  the  plain  Gospel  message,  the  former 
dwelling  on  sin  and  what  to  do  with  it.  There  was  no  meeting  in  the 
afternoon  for  the  children,  as  the  vintage  was  going  on,  and  for  the 
same  reason  it  was  feared  that  the  evening  would  be  poorly  attended, 
but  the  room  was  full  for  all  that  of  attentive,  thoughtful-looking 
people,  not  one  of  whom  moved  till  the  end  of  the  meeting.  It  seems 
it  is  so  whenever  a  meeting  is  held.  The  people  here  are  reserved, 
says  the  evangelist,  and  do  not  easily  talk  of  what  they  feel,  and  one 
can  see  this  in  their  features,  which  are  calm  and  often  comely.  Here 
is  soil,  one  feels,  into  which  the  seed  is  being  cast,  and  into  which  it 
will  sink.  If  one  does  not  see  it  springing  up  now,  one  must  be 
patient. 

Next  morning,  waking  up  and  going  to  the  terrace  overlooking 
the  beautiful  river,  the  latter  had  changed,  and  from  being  blue,  flashing 
in  the  sunlight,  by  its  willow-clad  banks  and  islands,  it  was  rolling 
down  muddy  and  carrying  foam,  and  rising  on  the  piers  of  the  bridge ; 
all  a  reflex  of  the  rains  higher  up,  for  there  was  no  change  in  the  sky. 
And  now  I  understood  why  the  boat,  as  a  rule,  is  stationed  not  on  the 
river,  but  on  the  canal,  drawn  from  the  river,  but  secure  from  its 
moods  and  changes.  It  would  never  do  for  the  boat  to  be  exposed 
even  to  so  slight  a  flood  as  this,  carrying  it  from  its  moorings  and 
perhaps  doing  damage.  Safe  in  the  shelter  of  calm  water  it  fears  none 
of  these  things. 


Interior  of  La  Bonne  Nouvelle 


26  SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 

Captain  Dautry  begins  his  report  for  1908:  “Our  work  on  board  has 
been  especially  blessed  during  this  season.  Except  during  the  heat  of 
summer  and  some  stormy  days  we  have  had  crowded  meetings,  sometimes 
twice  as  many  as  the  boat  would  hold.”  Replying  to  the  criticism  that 
people  came  only  out  of  curiosity,  he  writes :  “That  may  be  partly  true  at 
first ;  but  I  believe  some  other  motive  must  be  found  where  people  come 
regularly  during  six,  eight  or  ten  weeks,  and  when  we  see  no  trace  among 
our  congregations  of  the  great  divisions  which  politics  and  religion  bring 
about  in  these  villages.  In  fact,  this  grouping  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
inhabitants,  without  distinction  of  party  or  opinion,  is  one  of  the  marvelous 
results  obtained  by  the  boat.” 

Champalais  was  perhaps  the  most  interesting  station  of  the  year. 
The  boat  was  moored  over  two  miles  from  the  nearest  town,  with  only 
scattered  hamlets  near;  yet  there  were,  on  an  average,  150  present  every 
night,  and  100  at  the  Sunday  and  Thursday  afternoon  meetings  for  the 
children.  Some  days  the  boat  was  unable  to  accommodate  all  who  came. 
M.  Dautry  writes : 

Although  these  people  have  broken  away  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  they  are  religious  at  heart ;  and  the  Gospel  meets  a  real  need. 
That  is  why  they  come  so  diligently  and  listen  so  well. 

Some  days  before  Christmas  I  had  to  tell  the  people  that  the  Lord 
of  the  Manor  of  Herry,  their  mayor,  who  owned  vast  forests,  would 
not  give  me  the  small  fir  tree  for  the  fete.  “Don’t  trouble  about  it,” 
said  several  voices,  “we  will  get  one.”  On  the  morrow,  a  worthy  farmer 
from  the  neighboring  village  came  .and  willingly  offered  the  only  one 
he  had.  “My  pretty  fir  tree,”  said  he,  “cannot  have  a  better  end  than 
by  being  used  as  a  Christmas  tree  for  the  boat.”  T  hus  everything  was 


Washing-boats  on  the  Loire 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


on 

—  / 


Some  Habituees  of  the  Boat 


arranged,  and  we  had  a  capital  Christmas  fete,  attended  by  one  hundred 
children  and  nearly  as  many  adults. 

After  we  had  been  there  five  weeks  our  worthy  friends,  who  had 
in  so  many  ways  expressed  their  gratitude,  would  hardly  let  us  go. 
“What  a  pity  you  cannot  stay  longer,”  they  said ;  “it  does  us  so  much 
good  to  hear  what  you  have  to  say,  and  we  need  it  so  much.”  “You 
can  never  know  how  much  good  we  have  received  on  board  your  boat,” 
said  one  woman.  “It  is  more  than  fifteen  years  since  we  went  to  mass ; 
yet,  for  my  part,  I  do  love  the  good  God ;  I  know  that  I  need  Him ; 
but  we  were  poor,  and  the  priests  have  so  oppressed  and  humiliated  us 
that  they  have  become  odious  to  us.  What  a  blessing  it  is  that  now  we 
have  learned  how  to  serve  God  in  peace !  Now,  with  my  Bible,  which 

I  love  to  read,  all  is  well.”  “You  see,”  said  M.  B - ,  who  gave  us  the 

fir  tree  at  Christmas,  “I  have  been  waiting  for  this  for  twenty  years ; 
I  did  not  know  that  you  would  come,  but  I  believed  that  God  would 
send  us  some  one.  Now  that  we  understand,  it  is  at  Pouilly,  in  M. 
Ferdinand’s  church,  that  I  and  my  children  and  grandchildren  will 
worship ;  he  shall  teach  my  two  boys  their  catechism.” 

Champalais  is,  in  fact,  only  two  and  a  half  miles  from  Pouilly, 
whose  pastor,  one  of  the  most  devoted  of  our  helpers,  takes  a  deep 
interest  in  all  this  district.  We  are  much  rejoiced,  therefore,  to  know 
that  after  the  departure  of  the  boats,  these  families  who  have  received 
so  much  good,  will  continue  to  attend  the  services  at  Pouilly. 


Forty  Bibles,  forty  Testaments  and  over  ioo  hymn  books  were  sold 
during  the  twenty-three  Champalais  meetings. 

After  quitting  Champalais  the  boat  remained  yet  another  fifteen 
months,  or  until  mid-April  of  the  present  year,  on  the  lateral  canal,  nine 
long  missions  being  held  during  this  period.  From  Givry  to  Le  Guetin, 
in  the  celebrated  lime  basin  centering  at  Beffes,  her  ministry  was  to  a 
population  industrial  rather  than  agricultural  and  scattered  through  a 


28 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


great  number  of  small  villages.  Unfortunately,  the  majority  of  these  vil¬ 
lages  are  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Loire,  which  made  it  more  difficult  for 
the  people  to  get  to  the  boat.  Yet  on  holidays  and  Sundays  the  crowds 
came  as  usual,  sometimes  two  and  more  often  three  consecutive  meetings 
being  held — the  first  at  two  o’clock,  the  second  at  four  and  the  third  at 
eight.  “That  which  pleases  me,”  said  a  visitor  at  this  time,  “is  that  you 
do  not  impose  your  opinions  on  one,  but  are  willing  to  discuss  things 
freely.” 

At  Fourchambault,  on  the  east  side  of  the  Loire,  M.  Dautry  left 
the  boat  and  tried  the  experiment  of  holding  some  meetings  in  the  town, 
which  “were  very  much  appreciated.” 


Monsieur  Sainton  Preaching  from  His  Auto 


Episodes  along  the  way  reveal  the  incidental  ministries  of  the  boat 
to  men  and  women  whose  hidden  sorrows  are  solaced  and  healed  by  its 
tender  messages  and  appeals.  Now  it  is  an  old  man  who  tells  with  grati¬ 
tude  how  a  disobedient  granddaughter  has  been  touched  by  what  she  has 
heard  on  board.  Now  the  pathetic  desire  of  the  father  of  a  blind  boy  for 
an  interview  with  the  preacher  of  the  evening,  whose  text  was  “the  man 
born  blind.”  Now  the  anxious  wife  finally  persuading  her  unwilling  hus¬ 
band  to  come  to  the  services. 

At  the  close  of  the  Guetin  mission  M.  Dautry,  accompanied  by  M. 
Sainton,  the  auto-evangelist,  made  a  round  of  visits  in  a  dozen  towns 
where  the  boat  had  been.  “It  is  impossible,”  he  writes,  “to  describe  the 
joyous  welcome  I  received  everywhere.  At  each  place  it  is  the  same  testi¬ 
mony  of  gratitude,  the  same  desire  for  a  revisit  from  the  boat.  In  a  goodly 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


29 


La  Bonne  Nouvelle  Crossing  the  River  Allier  by  the  Canal  (Viaduct) 


number  of  places  we  found  persons  who  had  continued  in  touch  with  the 
pastors  of  the  region.  This  long  campaign  in  the  Department  of  Berry 
has  given  us  most  precious  encouragements.”  M.  Pacherie,  for  his  part, 
adds  that  the  year  1908-1909  “has  been  the  most  interesting  of  the  ten 
years  of  his  experience  as  colporteur.” 

Pastor  Delattre,  of  Roanne,  had  twice  visited  the  boat  during  this 
year  and  was  so  impressed  with  the  efficiency  of  her  work  that  he  urgently 
begged  the  Paris,  Committee  to  permit  her  to  come  to  Roanne  for  a  mis¬ 
sion,  promising  his  hearty  co-operation.  The  consent  was  given,  and 
crossing  the  Allier  by  the  canal  viaduct  the  Bonne  Nouvelle  made  the 
long  journey  of  nine  days  to  the  busy  city  of  30,000  people  at  the  upper 
end  of  the  Digoin-Roanne  Canal.  From  May  9th  to  June  13th  forty 
meetings  for  adults  were  held  on  board. 

He  who  writes  this  account  was  present  at  the  last  three  of  these 
meetings,  on  Saturday  night,  June  12th,  and  on  Sunday  afternoon  and 
evening,  the  13th.  The  speakers  were  M.  Delattre,  M.  Beigbeder,  the 
earnest  and  efficient  Director  of  the  Paris  Committee,  and  M.  Biau,  the 
Mission’s  delightful  and  distinguished  agent  at  Marseilles.  The  boat  was 
full  at  each  of  these  three  services  and  on  Sunday  at  both  services  full 
to  overflowing,  as  the  photograph  on  page  23  shows.  On  Sunday 
morning  at  Pastor  Delattre’s  church  over  a  tenth  of  the  audience  was 


30 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


made  up  of  hearers  on  the  boat  the  night  before.  When  the  Bonne  Nou¬ 
velle  leaves  Roanne  it  will  leave  its  converts  under  the  care  of  this  devoted 
and  faithful  evangelist-pastor,  known,  through  the  boat’s  mission,  through¬ 
out  the  city  as  never  before. 

With  the  annual  lowering  of 
the  canal  for  cleaning  and  repairs 
the  Bonne  Nouvelle  was  towed 
into  the  Loire,  on  the  edge  of  the 
city,  where  she  will  be  overhauled 
and  repainted  in  preparation  for 
future  campaigns.  These  will  be¬ 
gin  with  a  resumption  for  a  time 
of  the  Roanne  meetings,  after 
which  either  of  two  moves  is  open 
to  her — a  retracing  of  her  way 
down  the  Loire  Canal,  revisiting 
those  who,  on  her  ascent  of  the 
valley,  learned  to  call  her  friend; 
or  an  advance  into  an  entirely  new 
region  along  the  Canal  du  Centre 
to  Chalon,  down  the  Saone  to 
Lyons  and  back,  by  the  Canal  de 
Bourgogne  into  the  Yonne  Valley, 
to  confirm  the  work  of  her  elder 
sister  below  Auxerre,  or  in  the 
untried  territory  above;  returning 
finally  by  the  Canal  du  Nivernais 
into  the  valley  of  the  Loire. 

Seven  full  years  have  been 
hers  up  to  today.  In  the  years  to 
come  as  she  makes  new  friends 
and  returns  to  receive  the  greet¬ 
ings  of  old  ones,  under  God  it  will 
be  to  bring  a  blessing  to  both. 

“The  Word  of  God  is  living” 
— living  seed.  The  task  of  the 
Bonne  Nouvelle  has  been  to  sow  that  “living  seed”  beside  the  waters. 
Gladly  would  she  have  consented  again  and  yet  again  to  tarry  and  reap  the 
harvest — to  stay  with  the  little  circle  of  new-born  disciples  here  and  there. 
But  her  work  is  a  work  of  faith,  faith  in  Him  who  gives  the  “increase.” 
And  as  surely  as  God  is  true  that  “increase”  shall  some  day  appear. 


A  Street  in  Roanne 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


31 


CHRONOLOGY 


OF  THE  CRUISES 


“LE  BON  MESSAGER  ” 


“LA  BONNE  NOUVELLE” 


Marne  .  .  May  4,  1892 — Sep.  28,  1893 

Aisne  .  .  May  9,  1894 — Oct.  4,  1894 

Oise  .  .  Oct.  7,  1894 — Jan.  10,  1896 

Seine  (above  Paris)  Feb.  23,  1896 — May  29,  1897 
Yonne  .  .  May  30,  1897 — Dec.  4,  1898 

Seine  (below  Paris)  Feb.  26,  1899 — June  14,  1900 


Marne 

.  July 

26, 

1900- 

-Mch. 

26, 

1905 

Y  onne 

Apr. 

16, 

1905- 

-Apr. 

5, 

1907 

Seine 

June 

16, 

1907- 

-May 

21, 

1908 

Aisne 

June 

28, 

1908- 

-Apr. 

23, 

1909 

Oise 

May 

9, 

1909 

Canal  du  Loing 
Canal  d’Orleans 
Canal  du  Loing 
Canal  de  Briare 


Apr.  27,  1902— Feb.  3,  1903 
Feb.  8,  1903— J  une  4,  1 904 
Sep.  17,  1904— May  26,  1905 
May  28,  1905— J  une  10,  1906 


Canal  Lateral  a  la  Loire  June  12,  1906 — Apr.  16,  1909 
Canal  de  Roanne  a  Digoin 

(Roanne)  May  9,  1909 — June  13,  1909 


PARIS  COMMITTEE  OF  DIRECTION 

Honorary  President 

Mr.  Louis  Sautter 

President 
Rev.  H.  Bach 
Vice-Presidents 

Rev.  B.  Couve  Rev.  Chauncey  W.  Goodrich  Mr.  O.  Beigbeder 

Secretary  Treasurer 

Mr.  E.  J.  Rouilly  Dr.  H.  J.  Benham 

Rev.  Chas.  E.  Greig;  Rev.  Samuel  Gout;  Mr.  Roger  Merlin;  Prof.  J. 
Monnier;  Hon.  Eugene  Reveillaud;  Rev.  R.  Saillens;  Mr.  L.  Vanden 
Perren  Twyeffort,  and  Bishop  Ormsby. 

Director 

Mr.  O.  Beigbeder 
Assistant  Director 
Mr.  Samuel  de  Grenier-Latour 
Corresponding  Secretary  for  the  United  States 

Rev.  Henri  Merle  d’Aubigne 


AMERICAN  McALL  ASSOCIATION 

OFFICERS 

President 

Mrs.  Chas.  H.  Parkhurst,  133  East  Thirty-fifth  Street,  New  York  City 

Treasurer 

Mrs.  Abraham  R.  Perkins,  302  West  Upsal  Street,  Germantown,  Philadelphia 

Corresponding  Secretary 

Mrs.  H.  L.  Wayland,  51  i  South  Forty-second  Street,  Philadelphia 

General  Secretary 

Miss  Harriet  Harvey,  Bureau,  1710  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia 


32 


SEVEN  YEARS  IN  THE  SEINE  AND  LOIRE  VALLEYS 


Visitors  to  Pans 

desiring  to  see  the  Mission  boats,  or  the  new  Caravan  Mission,  or  to 
attend  services  in  the  halls  in  Paris  or  elsewhere,  are  especially  invited 
to  communicate  with  Rev.  H.  Merle  d'Aubigne  (the  Corresponding  Sec¬ 
retary  for  America),  at  his  home,  46  Boulevard  des  Invalides.  Monsieur 
and  Madame  d’Aubigne  are  at  home  (except  in  July  and  August)  on 
the  first  two  Mondays  and  the  last  two  Tuesdays  of  the  month  from  five 
to  seven  o’clock. 


Bureau  of  the  Mission 

36  Rue  Godot  de  Mauroi  (second  street  east  of  the  Madeleine). 

Open  Mondays  to  Fridays:  9  a.  m.  to  11.30  a.  m.,  12.30  p.  m.  to 
6  p.  m. ;  Saturdays:  9  a.  m.  to  11.30  a.  m. 


The  Announcement  of  the  Hours  of  Service 

at  the  “Maison  Verte”  and  “Boulevard  Bonne  Nouvelle”  halls  may  be 
found  among  the  church  notices  in  the  Paris  edition  of  the  Near  York 
Herald  every  Saturday.  A  circular  giving  full  information  with  regard 
to  the  Paris  and  provincial  stations  may  be  secured  at  the  Bureau. 


Inquiries  or  Applications  for  Literature 

should  be  made  at  the  Bureau  in  Philadelphia,  1710  Chestnut  Street,  of 
Miss  Harriet  Harvey,  Secretary. 


Checks 

should  be  drawn  to  the  order  of  Mrs.  A.  R.  Perkins,  Treasurer,  302  West 
Upsal  Street,  Germantown,  Philadelphia. 


The  Field  Secretary 

Rev.  George  T.  Berry,  156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  is  glad  to  receive 
invitations  to  speak  in  regard  to  the  Mission  or  to  give  stereopticon 
lectures  in  illustration  of  its  work. 


